Pry board for grain doors



March 25, 1958 7E. H. SUESS PRY BOARD FOR GRAIN DOORS Filed Jan; 7, 1955fi W m w} W m .m, W D F- m B F 5 M PRY BOARD, FOR GRAIN DOORS Edwin H.Suess', St. Paul, Minn.

Application January 7, 1953, Serial No. 330,030

Claims. (Cl. 268-44) My present invention relates to grain doors, andmore particularly, to a novel pry board for use in connection withflexible grain doors in opening storm doors of closed cars.

As is well known, there is no purchase for a lever-acting tool when usedin opening the storm door of a closed car in which the door opening isclosed by a flexible grain door.

The object of this invention is to provide a novel pry board applicableto a car structure of a closed car on opposite sides of a door openingfor use as a purchase in opening the storm door of the car, in which thedoor opening is closed by a flexible grain door.

A further object of my invention is that normally my pry board will belocated in the car door opening in such a position as to be readilyaccessible for facilitating the opening of the storm door of the carregardless of whether said car is spotted in the open yards or againsta. loading dock. In some instances however, especially when a car may beloaded with a commodity that may require sampling before unloading, mypry board may be located near the top of the flexible grain door,thereby permitting the sampler to place a ladder against said pry boardand/or, if necessary, sit astride the same during the sampling process.My pry board by virtue of its shape and rigid construction will permitthe sampler to perform these tasks with safety and from a relativelycomfortable position.

To the above end, the invention consists of the novel construction andarrangement hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of the inner side of a closedcar in which the opening between door posts is closed by a flexiblegrain door, the invention being shown by means of broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the outside of the partsshown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2,on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view partly in plan and partly in section takenon the line 4--4 of Fig. 2, on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view partly in plan and partly inhorizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and further showing astorm door and a lever, as shown, a crowbar.

The numeral 5 indicates a fragment of one side of a closed car having adoor opening 6 between two door posts 7. The floor of the car isindicated by the numeral 8.

The door opening 6 is closed by a flexible grain door 9 fully shown,described and broadly claimed in my pending United States applicationentitled Flexible Grain Door ice the door posts 7 and pairs of cleats10, are folded around the innermost cleats and said cleatsv secured tothe door posts 7 by nails 10. The bottom portion of the grain door 9 isfolded inwardly onto the floor 8 under a floor board 11 to afford afloor flap 9' and said floor board is nailed to the floor.

Referring now in detail to the invention, to wit: a pry board 12 which,as shown, is formed of a folded single sheet of metal and includes abody having a back member 13 and a front member 14. The pry board 12 ishorizontally disposed and the metal at the top of the back member 13 isturned outwardly and downwardly on substantially a semi-circle 15 andthence the metal extends downwardly and inwardly to substantially thelower longitudinal portion of the back member 13 and forms the frontmember 14.

The metal at the bottom of the back member 13 is folded outwardly andupwardly to afford a retaining flange 16. This flange 16 outwardlyoverlaps the lower longitudinal portion of the front member 14- andholds the same in place. If desirable, the flange 16 may be secured tothe front member 14 by welding, crimping or otherwise. The back member13 is extended outwardly of the ends of the front member 14 to affordattaching end members 17 that overlap the door posts 7 on the innersides thereof and is secured thereto by nails. Longitudinally spacedholes 17' are formed in the attaching members 17 through which the nailsmay be. inserted when driving the same into the door posts 7. It will benoted that one of the attaching members 17 is longer than the other toaccommodate the pry board 12 to varying distances between the door posts7. The pry board 12 is necessarily attached to the door posts 7 beforethe grain door 9 is installed.

Formed in the front member 14 at substantially its transverse center, isa plurality of longitudinally spaced holes 18, as shown, round. Theseholes 18 permit a leveracting tool 19 to be progressively insertedtherein to engage the front member 14 as a purchase or base ofresistance and with the tool 19 intermediately engaging the front edgeof a storm door 20 as a fulcrum, the storm door 20 may be pried open bya step-by-step movement.

The outer side of the inner member 13 of the pry board 12 istransversely concavo-convex with its convex surface next to the graindoor, and thus presents a smooth surface to the flexible grain door 9 sothat said door, which is made of heavy paper or other suitable material,is not damaged by rubbing on the pry board 12.

While the drawing shows only one pry board, it will be understood thattwo or more may be used and if one is placed near the top of the dooropening 6, its curved top affords a convenient seat for a man whiletaking samples of grain in the car.

While there are herein disclosed but a limited number of embodiments ofthe structure, process and product of the invention herein presented, itis possible to produce still other embodiments without departing fromthe inventive concept herein disclosed, and it is desired therefore,that only such limitations be imposed upon the appended claims as arestated herein, or required by the prior art.

What I claim is:

l. A metallic pry board for railroad boxcars having slidable storm doorsnormally closing the door opening lying between the door posts of saidboxcar, said pry board comprising in combinationa tubular body portionthat is vertically elongated in transverse section constructed andarranged to span the door opening lying between said door posts, saidtubular body portion atforde 2,828,121 H p I ing vertically elongatedinner and outer surfaces relative to the door opening, said surfaces ofthe body portion being longitudinally extended and flattened at each endthereof to overlap the door posts and thus afford a pair of members forsecuring the pry board to said door posts, and a plurality oflongitudinally spaced transverse centered holes in said outer surface ofthe body portion to receive the end portion of a lever fulcrumed on onevertical edge portion of said sliding storm door whereby movement in ahorizontal plane is imparted to said storm door by inserting the end ofthe fulcrumed lever successively in each next adjacent hole in the outersurface, which holes afford a base of resistance against the lateralmovement of the lever.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the longitudinally extendedmembers are provided with a plurality of holes for nailing the pry boardto the door posts of a boxcar.

3. A metallic pry board for railroad boxcars having horizontal slidablestorm doors, said pry board being constructed and arranged to span thedoor opening between the door posts of said boxcar, comprising incombination a vertically elongated tubular body portion spanning saiddoor opening, thus affording transversely spaced inner and outersurfaces relative to said door opening, the upper portion of said innersurface being bent outwardly and downwardly to form said outer surfaceto substantially the lower longitudinal edge portion of said innersurface, thus affording an upper longitudinal edge portion that issubstantially semicircular in cross section, said inner surface beinglongitudinally extended to overlap the door posts at each end thereof toafford a pair of members for securing said pry board to the door posts,and a plurality of longitudinally centered holes in said outer surfaceof the body portion to receive the end portion of a lever fulcrumed onone edge portion of the sliding storm door whereby movement in ahorizontal plane is imparted to said storm door by inserting the leverfulcrumed on the vertical edge of said storm door successively in thenext adjacent hole in the outer surface of the pry board to afford abase of resistance against the lateral movement of said lever.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 wherein the lower longitudinal edgesof the inner and outer surfaces of the tubular body portion of the pryboard are rigidly secured the one to the other by welding or crimping--5. The structure defined in claim 3- wherein the pair of members, andthe hole-equipped outwardly bent and downturned outer surface areintegral. with saidinner surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,210,144 Butts Dec. 26, 1916 1,347,040 Hooper July 20,1920 1,355,874Wheeler Oct. 19,1920 1,491,497 Studer Apr. 22, 1924 1,517,443 McClainDec. 2, 1924 1,569,029 Power Jan. 12, 1926 1,582,784 Pumphrey Apr. 27,1926 1,591,609 Campbell July 6, 1926 1,598,846 Burkeman Sept. 7, 19261,694,134 McMullen Dec. 4, 1928 1,708,994 Wylie Apr, 16, 1929 1,747,326Shunk et al. Feb. 18, 1930 1,793,035 Whitney Feb. 17, 1931 1,939,558Loudy Dec. 12, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 689 Australia Feb. 12, 1931 131,019Great Britain Aug. 21,1919

